Day after retest, results of ‘toppers’ cancelled in Bihar

Top performer in Arts from the same college, Ruby Rai, who could not appear for the retest because of “depression” has been given a week to appear for it, failing which her result would stand cancelled.

The first seven rank-holders each from Science and Arts stream were asked to sit for a special test and undergo an interview. (representational image)

A day after it conducted a retest and interview for 13 top performers in the Class XII state board exams, the Bihar School Examination Board on Friday cancelled the results of Saurav Srestha and Rahul Raj, both from the science stream and students of Vaishali’s Vishnu Roy College.

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Top performer in Arts from the same college, Ruby Rai, who could not appear for the retest because of “depression” has been given a week to appear for it, failing which her result would stand cancelled.

The board had also suspended the recognition of Vishnu Roy College and served it a showcause notice. There are allegations that the college’s director has political links and runs a racket to produce good results in state board exams. The performance of 11 of the 13 students who took the retest were found up to the mark, said a source from the state board.

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The board had to conduct the retest after interviews conducted by TV channels with some of the “toppers” revealed that they lack basic knowledge of their subjects. While Arts topper Ruby Rai pronounced political science as “prodigal science” and said the subject dealt with “cooking”, science topper Saurav Srestha could not define proton and electron.

Bihar Education Minister Ashok Kumar Choudhary told The Sunday Express: “Of 13 toppers, results of two stand cancelled as the experts committee found they did not deserve to be among the toppers.”
Choudhary confirmed that the board has suspended Vishnu Roy College’s recognition and served it a showcause notice.

“We are not going to stop at this. A three-member committee will be set up on Monday to investigate why a particular college has been producing extraordinary results and whether board officials, employees and teachers are part of an alleged education racket. Once the culprits are identified, they would face FIR and might lose their jobs as well,” Choudhary said.

BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad added that there could be judicial inquiry into the matter by a committee headed by a retired Patna High Court judge.